This was a monumentally stupid idea. You can see from the photo in the last entry the two of the reasons why I should never have tried this. It’s a long way away and the air is full of sand and smog. The final reason is hinted at by the picture below. Duba is the domain of the car. I think I spent as much time trying to cross roads and work out which of 5 exits from an intersection was the one I wanted.
Strictly speaking, this next photo is first chronologically and introduces you to the game of “Is that the Burj or a smudge” that you can play with the first few photos. This was about 30 minutes in as I was crossing the creek. The
Missing from the photographic record between the photo above and the next one is an hour of me traipsing up a hill to an overpass, trying to see which is the correct path to take then returning down to an intersection, walking 500 metres and repeating. During this stage I was cursing the cartographers at Lonely Planet, the road builders of Dubai and the weather forecasters who had predicted a mild day of 30 rather than the 37 which a cheerful sign on the freeway informed me I was walking through.
At this point I had my bearings and all I had to do was walk down Sheikh Zayeed Road until the Burj got real big then turn left.
Since I was last here, a number of new buildings have gione up, one of which is the new Telecom building, complete with golf ball on top to match the older one in Deira.
Sheikh Zayeed Road is something special. Apart from being very pedestrian-unfriendly, it is very good at making you feel small. Currently about 20 buildings in the 300-400 metre range with many more under construction. Again, there were no dead sites here, everything was full steam ahead. First, the Emirates Towers
And more towers:
The Rose Rotana is the world’s tallest building to be used exclusively as a hotel, overtaking the Burj Al Arab and the spooky Ryugyong Hotel
And yet more towers, getting quite close to the Burj now…
I’d walked myself into a corner at this point. The Burj was tantalisingly close, but a nest of overpasses stood between myself and Dubai Mall from which I could gain access. I poked and prodded at the roads but made no headway. I decided at this point to award myself the achievment of walking to the Burj and hopped into the nearest cab. 15 minutes later I was dropped off on the other side of SZ road at Dubai Mall, a monumental edifice to consumerism sitting at the foot of the Burj..
I took a lot of photos of the Burj, none of which came out particularly well. I commend to you the skyscraper-spotters at Skyscraper City for some awesome photos/video of the Burj Dubai and fountain.
The mall has some serious attractions to get people in. Those that are open so far: The Aquarium
The Waterfall
Anyway, it’s just a mall, albeit on an enormous scale. I stayed to see the fountain testing which was awesome, even if my photos of it aren’t (watch he video on the Skyscraper city page linked above)
Finally, there was a spot of hail, which seemed to be a novelty as it drew a bigger crowd than the fountain
And to top it off, a photo I’m fairly impressed with given my shaky hands and night time condiions, the Address, a residential tower across the fountain from the Burj.
And that was the day I walked to the Burj Dubai. I’ll spare you detailed photos and analysis of the next day, the day I rubbed my legs and moaned “Why?”